Friction-gear for railway draft-rigging.



' G. A. JOHNSON.

FRICTION GEAR FOR RAItWAY DRAFT RIGGING- APPLICATION FILED FEB. 16, 1918. 1,300,404. 1 Patented Apr. 15,1919.

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A TTORN Y G. A. JOHNSON.

FRICTION GEAR FOR RAILWAY DRAFT RIGGING.

APPLICATION FILED FEB. I6, I918. 1,300,404.. v Patented Apr. 15,1919.

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George flJohnaon GEORGE A. aormsdn, or CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, assronon T0 WILLIAM H. MINER, or CHAZY, NEW YORK.

FRICTION-GEAR FOR RAILWAY DRAFT-RIGGING.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 15, 1919.

Application filed February 16, 1918. Serial No. 217,519.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, GEORGE A. JOHNsON, a citizen of the United States, residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement, in Friction-Gears for Railway Draft-Rigging, of which the followin is a full, clear, concise, and exact descriptlon, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in friction gears for railway draft rlggings.

As is well known, in the Operation of railway cars, the bufling shocks are generally much heavier than the shocks under draft,

which the draft-gears are required to absorb. This fact has made it desirable to provide shock absorbing mechanisms of higher capacity under buff than. under draft in order that the heavy buffing shocks may be completely absorbed, and at the same time permit an easier action under draft to facilitate starting of the cars.

One object of my invention is to provide a novel arrangement of shock absorbing mechanism which will have substantially double the shock absorbingt capacity under buif that it has under dra Another and more specific object of the invention is to provide a shock absorbing mechanism, preferably of the friction type, so arrangedthat two shock absorbing un1ts are arranged in tandem so as to be Operable simultaneously and cumulatively in buff, and wherein only the rear of the tandem arranged units is operated under draft.

Still another object of the invention is to provide a shock absorbingmechanism that will have substantially double the travel in bufi' that it has in draft.

In the drawing forming a part of this s ecification, Figure 1 is a vertlcal, longituinal section of a portion of a draft rigging showing my improvements in connection therewith. Fig. 2 is a horizontal, sectional view of the structure illustrated in Fig. 1 and showing the positionof the parts under full buff. Fig. 3 is a vertical, transverse, sectional view, taken substantially on the line 3-.3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a detail, sectional view corresponding to Fig. 1, illustrating the front portion only of the draft rigging embodying another form of my insills.

vention. And Fig. 5 is a View similar to Fig. 1, illustrating a further embodiment of my invention.

In said drawing, 101O denote channel center or draft sills of a railway car between which, at the rear end of the gear, is secured a transversely extending abutment block 11 forming therear stop for the draft gear. The draw bar 12 is operatively connected to the gear proper, hereinafter de scribed, by a horizontal yoke 13 and coupler-key 14 extending through suitable slots provided in the draw bar yoke and draft Said yoke 13 normally bears against the abutment block 11 and cooperates with a suitably notch'ed rear follower 15, the rear end of the yoke and the follower 15 thereby being supported by brackets 1616 secured to the inner faces of the draft sills, as clearly shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The improved shock absorbing mechanism, as shown, comprises two friction units oppositely arranged. These friction units have a common casting A of substantially cylindrical form throughout, said casting A having a friction shell 17 at each end thereof and a central partition orwall 18 dividing the casting A into two substantially identical halves. Cooperable with each friction shell 17 is a circularly arranged series of friction shoes 19 and wedge 20, there being antifriction rollers interposed between the wedge and the shoes, as indicated at 21 in Fig. 1. Within each chamber of the casting A is placed a heavy main spring 22, each ofsaid main springs hearing at one end against the central partition 18 and at its opposite end against the inner edges of the corresponding set of friction shoes. A long retaining bolt 23 is employed extending from one wedge to the other wedge through the springs and suitable perforationsin the spring washers and partition 18. The casting A with the parts contained therein is supported by a. detachable saddle plate 24.

At the front of the gear, upper and lower horizontally extending stops are provided in the form of two transversely extending removable keys 25 and 26, respectively. A front follower 27 is interposed between the butt of the draw bar 12 and the front wedge block 20, said follower 27 being slidably supported and guided by and between said stop keys 25 and 26. The rear end of the draw bar butt is similarly supported and guided, as will be apparent from an inspection of Fig. 1.

The operation is as followszln buifing, the draw bar will force the front follower 27 rearwardly, thus actuating the front set of friction elements and at the same time forcing the double-ended friction shell rearwill be held stationary against the frent stops 25 and 26 so that the front friction unit will be inactive and the shock will be absorbed entirely by the rear friction mechanism and until the rear follower 15 engages with the rear end of the casting A. The draft capacity is therefore one-half of the hurling capacity and the travel of the draw Fear is also limited to one-half of the permissible travel under buff.

in the form shown in Fig. 4, the arrangement of double-ended friction mechanism is the same as that shown in Fig. 1 and substantially the entire difference resides in the front follower'127 which is provided with upper-and lower flanges 227227 to overlap the rear end ofthe draw bar- 112. The follower construction 127 is employed in those cases where the draw bar buttis of small size or where the spacing between the front upper and lowerstops is greater than the vertical hei rht of the draw bar butt, it being evident that a follower of the form shown in Fig. 4 will properly center the draw bar butt in line with the center line of the gear.

In the construction illustrated in Fig. 5,

the double-ended friction mechanismik is of a type having a considerably higher capacity than the type il ustrated in Fig. 1. In Fig. 5, the friction s ells 117 proper are substantially cylindrical and the spring casings 200 are of substantially rectangular form open at the top and bottom to permlt the use of twin arranged main springs 222 with each set of friction elements. The formation of the casting shown in Fig. 5 is such .as to provide upper and lower shoulders means, of a friction gear shell, means for holding said shell stationary under draft but permitting said shell to move under buff, a set of friction elements cooperable with said shell at its rear end under both bull and draft, and additional shock absorbing means at the front end of the gear under buff only.

and operable;

2. In a draft rigging, the combination with draft sills, draw bar, and yoke, of a double-ended friction shell having a set of friction elements cooperable therewith at each end, rear and front stop members, said shell being held stationary under draft but movable 1n bufi', both sets of friction elementsebeing operable in buff and only the rear set in draft.

In witness that I claim the foregoin I have hereunto subscribed my name this %th day of Feb, 1918.

GEORGE A. JOHNSON. 

